The Decree of Darius

1Then Darius the king made a decree, and they searched in the house of the books of the treasuries placed there in Babylon. 2And was found at Achmetha, in a palace that is in the province of Media, one scroll, and thus was written in it:

Memorandum:

3In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree about the house of God in Jerusalem:

Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid—its height sixty cubits, and its width sixty cubits,† 4with three rows of rolled stones, and a row of new timber, and let the expenses be paid from the house of the king.

5And also let the vessels of the house of God, of gold and silver, that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and taken back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place, and put them down in the house of God.

6Now:

Tattenai the governor beyond the river,† Shethar-bozenai, and your companions, the Apharsachites who are beyond the River:

Be far away from there. 7Leave alone the work of this house of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.

8And a decree is made by me for what it is that you⁺ shall do for the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God:

Of the riches of the king that are of the tribute beyond the river, let the expense be paid diligently and given to these men, so that they are not hindered. 9And what they need, whether sons of bulls, or rams, or lambs for burnt offerings to the God of the heavens, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, according to the word of the priests who are in Jerusalem, let it be given to them day by day, that is without neglect, 10that they may offer sacrifice of sweet aroma to the God of the heavens and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

11And from me is set a decree that any man who changes this command, let a timber be pulled from his house and raised up, and let him be hanged on it, and let his house be made a dunghill because of this. 12And may the God who caused His name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem.

I, Darius, have set a decree; let it diligently be done.

The Temple Completed

13Then Tattenai the governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, thus did diligently. 14And the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo.

And they built and finished it by the decree of the God of Israel, and by the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15And this temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar,† which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

Dedication of the Temple

16And the sons of Israel made—and the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the sons of the captivity—the dedication of this house of God with joy.

17And they offered sacrifices for the dedication of this house of God, a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel, by the number of the tribes of Israel.

18And they assigned the priests in their divisions, and Levites in their groups, over the service of God that is in Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.

The Returned Exiles Keep the Passover

19And the sons of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month. 20For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves as one; all of them were pure.

And they slaughtered the Passover for all the sons of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. 21And the sons of Israel who had returned from the captivity, with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the peoples† of the land to them, to seek YHWH, God of Israel, ate together,

22and they kept the Feast of the Unleavened† seven days with joy, for YHWH had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Footnotes:

3 The house was to be approximately 90 feet or 27.4 meters in height and width; Syriac (see also 1 Kings 6:2) It is to be sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.
6 That is, west of the Euphrates; similarly in verses 8 and 13
15 Adar is the twelfth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of February and March.
21 Or nations
22 That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven may be eaten; see Exodus 12:14–20.